Welcome

Welcome to the POZ Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and
others concerned about HIV/AIDS. Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the
conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning: Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive
and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a
username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own
physician.

All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators
of these forums. Click here for “Am I Infected?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ community forums.

We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please
provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are
true and correct to their knowledge.

Human cells have an intrinsic capacity to destroy HIV. However, the virus has evolved to contain a gene that blocks this ability. When this gene is removed from the virus, the innate human immune system destroys HIV by mutating it to the point where it can no longer survive.

This phenomenon has been shown in test tube laboratory experiments, but now researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have demonstrated that the same phenomenon occurs in a humanized mouse model, suggesting a promising new target for tackling the virus, which has killed nearly 30 million people worldwide since it first appeared three decades ago. A family of human proteins called APOBEC3 effectively restrict the growth of HIV and other viruses, but this action is fully counteracted by the viral infectivity factor gene (vif) in HIV. In the study, researchers intravenously infected humanized mice with HIV. They found that the most commonly transmitted strains of HIV are completely neutralized by APOBEC3 proteins when vif is removed from the virus. "Without the vif gene, HIV can be completely destroyed by the body's own immune system," said J. Victor Garcia, PhD, professor of medicine at the UNC School of Medicine and senior author on the study. "These results suggest a new target for developing drugs fully capable of killing the virus." Garcia and his colleagues pioneered the humanized mouse model used for these studies. The aptly named "BLT" mouse is created by introducing human bone marrow, liver and thymus tissues into animals without an immune system of their own. The mice have a fully functioning human immune system and can be infected with HIV in the same manner as humans. In previous research, Garcia and his team have effectively prevented intravenous, rectal, vaginal and oral transmission of HIV in the mice with pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). For the current study, Garcia and his colleagues also infected BLT mice with another, highly harmful strain of the virus. The results show that this strain of HIV does continue to replicate, even without vif, but at a much slower rate and without harming the human immune system. Further, the researchers found that virus replication in this case was limited to one tissue—the thymus—in the entire body. "These findings demonstrate a fundamental weakness in HIV," said John F. Krisko, PhD, lead author on the study. "If this weakness can be exploited, it might eventually lead to a cure for HIV/AIDS," Krisko said. The study appears March 28 in the online journal PloS Pathogens.

Haha, exactly what I thought when I read the article. HIV only has 9 genes. It's not too far fetched to assume that each of them plays a crucial role for the functioning (and replicating) of the virus.